Michael Moore knows first hand how devastating skilled editing can be, making an intelligent person stupid. It's an art form he has mastered, beginning with his first film, Roger and Me, which ruthlessly mocked the president of General Motors and various other executives, in no small part by means of unfair, manipulative edits. His box office hit Fahrenheit 911 makes similar use of cutting room magic.

So maybe it isn't too surprising that when he agreed to be interviewed on Bill O' Reilly's Fox News Channel show, he insisted that no edits be made. O'Reilly, aware that the promise of the interview would draw a large audience, agreed.

Just as Joseph Kennedy, patriarch of the first family of the Democrats, first made a fortune as a Wall Street manipulator, and then went on to be the first head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, doing a very effective job in curbing the very abuses he had exploited, sometimes it takes a crook to catch a crook.

But anyone asked by Moore for an interview should keep in mind the conditions he imposed on O'Reilly, and demand no edits, or at least the right to approve any edits. In writing.

Moore is no stranger to demanding of others what he won't do himself. After bravely standing up for the laid off GM workers in Flint, Michigan, and making an unsuccessful film about downsizing, titled The Big One, Moore turned into a typical anti—union boss himself. Part of his staff on his failed television program TV Nation tried to unionize, but boss—man Mike would have nothing to do with it.

Sauce for the goose is one thing. But sauce for the gander named Moore is quite something else.

Hat tip to Matthew Puflea

Posted by Thomas   07 28 04